Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Categories Mock Draft Part 1! Rounds 1-11 Picks & Strategy (3/15 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

Join our FBT March Madness Bracket for a chance to join our listener leagues- http://cbssports.com/FBTbrackets Frank kicks off the draft with Shohei Ohtani first overall (2:45)! When does Ronald Acuña get drafted? ... Where did Matt Olson go in the third round (13:25)? How far did Zack Wheeler fall? ... Marcus Semien is starting to go too late (25:20). ... Max Fried over Logan Webb (37:00)? ... Jazz Chisholm over Jonathan India (48:10)? Where does Carlos Rodon go now? ... Marcell Ozuna is starting to climb up draft boards (1:00:35). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Mock draft season is upon us. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Stamphill joined as always by Scott White and Chris Towers.

And this time we have a 12-team head-to-head Categories League with daily lineups. What's up, Scott? Thank you for hooking me up with the first overall pick. Yeah. Yeah, I wanted you to have the pressure of deciding who to take first now that it's not going to be Fernando Tatis, obviously. Ooh, it will not be. How are we doing, Chris? It was a pretty crazy day. All the baseball and football moves going on. Yeah, there's a lot going on in professional sports right now. You got a big, you know, MVP deciding matchup in the NBA between Nikoliyokic and Joel Embed as well. Also, a lot of moving parts here. I've got that one on the side screen. All right, lots going on.

We get even a little of basketball in there. Who would have thunk it? Anyway, the details for this draft before we jump in. Again, 12 teams, head-to-head categories. One of each infield position that includes catcher, three outfielders, two utility bats. On the pitching side, we have two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, and then four pitcher spots.

These are daily lineups with, Scott, do we have a weekly innings minimum? 25. 25. So it will be hard to pull off a Marmal strategy. For anyone else who is drafting with us right now, we are using the standard 5 by 5 category.

So batting average, home runs, run scored, RBI, and steals. And then on the pitching side, ERA, whip, strikeouts, wins, and saves. For the draft picks, I mentioned I have the first overall pick. Chris is picking sixth overall, and Scott is down there at number 11.

Heads up on the podcast side that this draft will be broken down into two different parts, so be on the lookout for part two. And then for those watching us live on YouTube, hello there. Thank you. Please hit the like button and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Scott, I am good to go. You can fire this bad boy up.

I have the first overall pick. We know it will not be Fernando Tautis Jr. Again, he has a fractured left wrist and he is mulling surgery. We don't know if he is going to have that for sure. But if he does, he could miss up to three months. so he is going to drop quite a bit and it will be interesting to see where he goes in this draft

and I am going to select Shohei Otani, I think. Did it go through? Let's see. And it did. All right, so first of all, Chris, we mentioned last week we did a mailbag

and there was a question about daily lineup leagues, head-to-head categories, this exact format. And if you can get both the hitting and pitching production, should you take Shohei Otani first overall? And I said, yes, I would do it.

And that's exactly what I just did. Yeah, I mean, the way to look at it would be, you're not going to get his hitting production when he's pitching. Correct. And there's actually, I saw the other day that Joe Madden is still awaiting confirmation from the league about what Shohayotani's status will be when they play against National League teams because he will be pitching and they won't be able to list him as a designated hitter.

So that's going to be interesting. We'll see when we get there. But yeah, you're going to get, if he does what he did last season, would get 130 innings, 156 strikeouts, nine wins, a 318 ERA, and whatever hitting stats he got when he wasn't a pitcher. And I believe we looked this up recently and he was better when he wasn't pitching. So yeah, 259 average 43 homers, 23 stolen base, 25 stolen bases, excuse me. So pretty good numbers if Shohei Otani repeats what he did last season. And I just love the idea of getting all of his stats.

way possible in fantasy because I mentioned this multiple times this offseason. I had him in two pretty important leagues last year. They were weekly lineups and I just didn't really get any of his pitching stats throughout the course of the season and frankly it sucked. So I'm happy to do that here. After I selected Shohei Otani, we see Trey Turner, Juan Soto, Jose Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero go off the board. Chris, you are on the clock. We'll get to your pick in just a little bit. But Scott, you were not on the emergency podcast earlier today where we reacted to the Tatease News, do you have an idea in your mind where he should go in drafts now with his kind of injury status up in the air? Yeah, for now, I moved him just outside of my top 100.

Among outfielders, I remember it was behind like that Cody Bellinger, Christian Yellich, question mark duo. It may be a little too. I may have not moved him down far enough, frankly, but, um, I was just trying to make a quick change there, and that's top of mind where it led me. But we'll obviously, I could react more depending on what else we find out. I do want to really drive home the point for the audience, though, that Shohei Otani, for most people, is not going to be the number one pick now. It's only the daily aspect of this thing that makes itself. Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, in a normal weekly lineup standard 5x5 Roto League, he's a borderline. first round pick, you know, late first, maybe early second rounder. In a head to head points league, he drops even a little bit further than that. He's probably more of a mid to late second round pick. So definitely do keep that in mind when first of all here because of that daily lineup aspect. Chris, you selected Boba Chet. Then we see Bryce Harper and Corbyn Burns go off the board.

And go ahead. In light of Tatea's injury, it does kind of reinforce the point in having to take Boba Chet there that I think there's a. Big four in most leagues now and most drafts and a big five, I guess, in a daily lineups league where Shohei Otani's part of that. But yeah, after, I think the drop-off from the Trey Turner, Juan Soto, Jose Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero tier to the Boba Chet, Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts tier, is not nothing. It's not going to kill your season, but your fifth or sixth is not necessarily a great place to be picking.

All right. Yeah, after you selected Boba Shed, I mentioned Bryce Harper and Corbyn Burns. We did have two more picks after that. Freddie Freeman goes ninth overall. Garrett Cole goes 10th overall. So I think we're already starting to see the idea that Freddie Freeman will wind up with either the Dodgers or the Yankees, apparently talking to the Blue Jays and maybe being pushed up a little bit already. Ninth overall. Scott, you are on the clock with the 11th pick. Where are you going? I'm going with Mike Trout. It's between him, Betts and Kyle Tucker. but Betts and Tucker

they'll make it they'll contribute in stolen bases but I'm not confident either we'll give you a consistent enough stream of stolen bases from week to week for really to be that impactful in a categories league that scored

week to week. So I'd rather get the top tier power production from Mike Trout presuming he stays healthy but he's you know he reported to camp with the clean bill of health after the calf injury last year. So I'm not that worried about it.

I do think it's worth mentioning, we haven't seen Acuna go yet, right? We have not. So in addition to Tatis being removed as a viable first rounder, I think recent reports have also taken Acuna out of the running there, or at least they should, because not only did Acuna himself reiterate that he's aiming for a May return from his torn ACL,

but just today Braves' GM, Alex Anthopoulos said they're not counting on him to play the outfield until late May, which I guess doesn't rule out an earlier return at DH. I'm not exactly sure how to interpret that, though. But, you know, Akuna is saying May, it doesn't necessarily mean May first, which is not something we've talked a lot about. He did also, for what it's worth, he did also do the, if it was up to me, it would be opening. day kind of thing. So, you know, there's going to be the aspect of him probably pushing, but that may not be enough to change the timetable either way. Right. All right. Scott, after you selected Mike Trout, we see Mookie Betts and Jacob deGrom go off the board. And then

either intentionally or unintentionally, you timed out. I don't know if you realized. No, I took Devers. I don't know why the button wasn't working, but I dragged him to my cue first. And that's something you mentioned in the Matt Olson reacts that, you know, Raphael Devers might just be kind of replacing Freddie Freeman in that tier for you, right? Right. Unrelated to Freeman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No longer being with the Braves in all likelihood.

He's dead to you. Yeah, just it's that important for me to fill third base with somebody who I can trust, and even more so than the Austin Riley's and Nolan Aeronados of the world. Rafael Devers, who I think actually, according to the data, the Stackhouse data, actually underachieved last year for as productive as he was, you know, hopefully he can come, he can perform on the level of like a Freddie Freeman,

just on the opposite side of the diamond. You know, I preferred last year when Raphael Devers had like one bad month and was going in like the late third as a result. Yeah. In 20, coming off of 2020. Yeah.

Preferred that to 14th overall. Yeah. Not to say I don't like the pick. That would help if he was going to little bit later on there. Jacob de Grom, I think it's pretty interesting. Two, 13th overall. We've been seeing some videos of him throwing bullpen sessions already, and he's been named the opening day starter for the New York Mets. Of course, you know, thus far, all the news has been good on him. We'll see how his body, how his elbow reacts as we get further into spring training,

and he starts pitching in games as well. But so far, so good on Jacob de Grom, who apparently will opt out after this season, making him a free agent. Hopefully he can have a health season and cash in some way, somehow. Scott, you selected Raphael Devers, which we mentioned, then Kyle Tucker, Ronald de Cunia, Ozzie Albies, and Walker Bueller go off the board. And Chris, you're on the clock with three seconds left. Oh, gosh, I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry. Let me, uh, I got it. I got it. He's in there. Okay. Okay. Is this the pick you actually wanted? Yes, that is my top remaining player. Max Scherzer starting pitcher New York Mets. Not going to be an opening day starter, which, you know, says quite a bit about the

quality that the Mets think they're going to get from him. A little disappointing. But I think he's going to have a pretty good season as the number two starter for the New York Mets. All right. Yes, fair enough. That was a joke, right? Yes, that's one of those things that, like, it has, honestly, hasn't really settled in for me yet

that Max Scherzer and Jacob de Grom are going to be on the same team. That's, that's kind of bananas. It's wild. Yeah, that is like Derek Cole and Justin Verlander. Yeah. Except arguably even, better. Arguably, yeah.

I mean, they can stay healthy. Just stay healthy, please. Could be one of the most fun pitching duos that we've ever seen. Oconia still went 16th overall. Yep. Which I'm not even sure I want him in round two anymore, to be honest. I dropped him to 26 in Roto as a result of yesterday's news. It's not, I'm not burying him exactly, but he's right between Byron Buxton and George

Springer, which feels like a good spot. I mean, I'm higher on Buxton and Springer than everyone. But generally speaking, that that seems like a good spot in terms of the risk reward involved for Ronald Acuna. All right. I am on the clock here. Chris, you selected Max Scherzer. That was the last pick we gave everyone. That was 19th overall.

Then we got Luis Robert, Cedric Mullins, Austin Riley, 22nd overall. All right. So ahead of Mani Machado. Geez. All right. So you see that third base position scarcity already factoring into this draft? Definitely not. disappointed in that Devers pick now.

I am going to select at least one pitcher here. I guess you guys don't know that third base is about to get deeper. All these Chris Bryant to the Rockies rumors, guys. I'm going to make him my number five third baseman if it happens. Already third base eligible, but yes, he would move up the rankings if he was playing half his games at Coorsfield. Would he be six for you guys? I would move him up quite a bit.

I think I'm with you that I'd move him ahead of Aeronado. Yeah, that would be close. All right, Starling Marte is my highest ranked outfielder, my highest ranked player available. He's dealing with an oblique injury so far, so that's not great. He dealt with an oblique injury last year, so I might have to drop him down a little bit. Do I want to select a hitter? I think that I will do that, and I have to make this adjustment in the rankings, but I am going to go with Yerdon Alvarez. I'm going to move him ahead of Teoska Hernandez and Aaron Judge.

you know, Teasca might be able to chip in 10 to 12 steals, which it helps over the course of the season, but in a head-to-head categories league, you know, Scott mentioned this with Moogie Betts. He's not a huge contributor in that category. And as a result, I'd rather get all the power that I possibly can. And I think Eurdon Alvarez can provide more of that than Teoska Hernandez. So to kind of elaborate on that, like,

because it's weekly scoring head-to-head categories, stolen base contributions only matter to the extent that they can win you a category in a given week. So those guys who are projected for 15 steals or so one every other week basically. I mean, practically, how does that play out over the course of the season? How much can you count on that helping you win the category?

I guess if you have enough of those guys and they time their stolen bases right, it'll win the category for you sometimes. But I just... Well, just for additional context regarding like Teosker Hernandez, he went 14 games before he got his first steal and he went nine games with his next one. Looks like another nine games there. Next one in three games.

And then he didn't have another one for a month. Right. And so it's like, you know, he might get two steals in a five-day span and then go a month and a half without one. So in this context in particular, it's not necessarily clear how much someone who steals 12 to 15 bases actually helping you. Right. Yeah. And it's like at that point,

if you think there's another player there that can provide a higher batting average or more power consistently, I think that can be the case for Yurdon Alvarez. Like, I really like to Oscar Hernandez. Obviously, the Blue Jays lineup is still amazing. So it's not like I don't like him,

but I do like Yirdon Alvarez a tiny bit more from a power perspective. After I selected Yurdon Alvarez to start round three, we see Shane Bieber, Julio Arias, Matt Olson, and Paul Goldschmidt, 29th overall. All right, so both of those guys go ahead of Teaska Hernandez, go ahead of Aaron Judge, which I think is pretty interesting. And, you know, Matt Olson, the ADP is 33, according to fantasy pros right now. And maybe this is where he's going to start to live, that early mid part of the third round. Now moving over to the Atlanta Braves, of course, theoretically should be a better ball. Park, better lineup, so those things can only help Madelson potentially in terms of his counting stats. Something we didn't talk about when we did our emergency podcast on him earlier.

I guess this is more like a philosophical question than anything. But Chris, you know, we've seen other big name players change leagues and struggle their first season in a new location. Is that something you might worry about with Madelson? No, I can't say no for sure because historically players do tend to underperform. expectations. I believe I've read a study from fan graphs that was based on, I think it was based on projections, not ADP, but I think you could probably do the same.

And they do tend to underperform when switching leagues, especially hitters. Pitchers actually tend to do a little bit better, which I think makes sense across both ways. Hitters tend to perform better the more they see a pitcher. So, you know, you're generally seeing a new population of pitchers. So, yeah, I think it's a concern, but, I don't know.

Matt Olson's really good. I think it does introduce some risk that he won't be able to sustain all of the gains he made in terms of plate discipline last season. He almost cut his strikeout rate in half last season from the 2020 season. So obviously that's a lot.

But I don't know. I don't think it should change your view of him at all. But it's there. Like it's something to be aware of. After Paul Goldschmidt went 29th. Overall, we see Aaron Judge Starling-Marche Pete Alonzo, thank God that Pete Alonzo's okay. I mean, there were videos that surfaced of apparently he was in a car accident,

and it sounded really serious. So thankfully, he's okay, and he's back in training camp, and everything's all right with him. After Pete Alonzo, Sandy Alcansra, and George Springer go, and Scotty, you are on the clock. Yeah, yeah, I think Pete Alonzo's truck, like, rolled over a few times. Yeah, it's scary stuff. got T-boned.

It was the, his wife posted the video of it. It's pretty scary. So we're actually seeing him going round three, which we had talked about that the ADP was beginning to show that for him, but this is the first time I've actually experienced it in the draft. I'm not going to mess around here at the end of round three. I'm going to take Salvador Perez, who I've, I've said before, is my optimal round 4 target, but I've gotten burned a few times waiting till round 4 before him, for him.

And between Fernando Tatis being removed from this range of the draft, this is also the first mock we've done since Zach Wheeler went right after. Right. The first mock draft we've done since the revelations about Zach Wheeler's shoulder. And while I think Zach Wheeler deserves to get drafted among the top 10, top 12 starters still, I know he threw off a mound just today. So he might be delayed a little bit, but I think in the long run he's going to be fine.

I can't, you know, that every one of those guys who goes down, Salvador Perez, where I draft him, I need to move up my expectations. And it's a good job. A good thing that you did take him, Scott, because Brandon in the chat wrote sniped by Scotty. So he was looking to select Salvador Perez. And you got him there.

35th overall. At the turn, we see Zach Wheeler, and Josh Hader go off the board. So the first closer drafted here as well. Zach Wheeler, it's a good point you bring up, Scott. I mean, this is the first mock draft that we've done since the news came out about Wheeler, and he threw a bullpen session on Monday.

Apparently, all as well. I don't know. Might be, you know, much to do about nothing right now with Zach Wheeler. So maybe even a buying opportunity for him. And then, Scott, you go ahead and select your first starting pitcher, Robbie Ray. I wanted to ask,

based on your first two picks, you got Mike Trout and then you selected Rafael Devers and now you have Salvador Perez. In this format, head-to-head categories, daily lineups, you can choose to punt a category. Do you see yourself now punting steals based on the first four picks that you've made? Not necessarily.

There's one player in particular who I might target if he lasted long enough, that player being at Alberto Mondesie, who, when he's healthy, could single-handedly win you the category any given week because his steals are relentless and always in never in short supply. So yeah, I might, I won't necessarily punt stolen bases,

but it is more viable in this format I feel like than in like a traditional roto league where the consequences of punting a category I think are a lot higher because you're stuck with that bottom score in that category. And it's just, it's applied to your yearly score. And it's just, it's difficult to make up ground in all the other categories for that. But when you're just talking a week at a time, you know, it's easier to see a path to success that way. All right.

After we, after we did our Matt Olson emergency podcast earlier today, there were a few more things that went down. Obviously, a pretty big trade between the Mariners and the, the Cincinnati Reds where Jesse Winker and A. Eugenio-Swarres were traded to the Mariners in exchange for pitching prospect Brandon Williamson, starting pitcher Justin Dunn and outfielder Jake Frailey. So as we get further into this draft and Jesse Winker selected, we'll talk more about what it means for their value. And Andrew McCutcheon signed with the Milwaukee Brewers not long before we started this draft as well. So it's a fun lineup.

The Milwaukee Brewers this upcoming season, we like Adamas. crush lefties last year. Yeah. We all like Willie Adama's. Chris and I like Luis Arias quite a bit. Hopefully yellow can bounce back but the brewers are interesting. After Scott's... Hunter Renfro baby. Hunter Renfro for the brand for the hashtag brand. All right Scott after you selected Robbie Ray we see Zander Bogart's Whitmerfield and Teosker Hernandez. Man I consider taking him 25th overall. He lasts all the way to pick 41. Nice pick there. That's a pretty great value yeah. Yeah, I like that. Francisco Lindor goes with the very next pick and Chris

you are on the clock. Let's check in on your team, see what you're working with here. You've got Bobauch, Aaron Judge, and Max Scherzer. Are you thinking another hitter or pitcher here? We're doing it for the hashtag brand. Let's go.

Byron Buxton. Nice. My top-rated player, my top-ranked player by a significant amount. He's 27 overall for me in a categories-based format. I took him 43rd overall. He usually goes a little later than that, even, I would say. but I actually haven't ended up with enough Byron Buxton this season.

So, you know, got to go get my guy. Get your guy. Of course, Byron Buckson was fantastic last year. Truly broke out. OPS over 1,000. People are going to point to, well, he's injury prone. He can't stay on the field. He got hit by a pitch last year, fractured his hand.

Of course, dealt with some other stuff. But, you know, we have to consider a hand injury where you get hit by the ball. It's pretty flukey stuff. And I'll point out because I was pointing this out before. last season. Part of why I liked him was he had broken out prior to 2021. Not to the same level. He had a thousand five OPS. He was probably the most valuable, the best player in baseball on a per game basis last season if you include defense and base running. But overall over the past three seasons, you're only talking about 187 games, 684 plate appearances, so not a massive

sample size. But he isn't 897 OPS. He's slugging 576 with a 299 ISO over the past. three seasons. So there has been a legitimate power breakout that has lasted over the course of three different seasons. I think he has an ISO of at least 250 in all three of those seasons. So there's reasons to buy in on Byron Buxstein, even if you don't think he's going to repeat last season and you should. Gosh, man, I just got crushed. Lucas Sheolito and Aranola go right ahead of me and I really wanted to get one of those guys. As my SP2, it will not happen. After you selected Byron Buckson, we see Liam Hendrix, the second closer off the board, Jose Altuve, Altuve, and then Chiolito and Aaron Nola.

I will make the first pick here. I'm going to select Tim Anderson, Mr. Anderson. So I've got Tim Anderson, Shohei Otani, Yurdon Alvarez, and Brandon Woodruff. Do I... Have you seen The Matrix? I saw the first two Matrix movies. I didn't watch the third one because I heard it was so bad that it wasn't even worth watching.

and now I need to watch it because I want to watch the fourth one. All of them are, all of them outside of the first one are varying levels of, but the first one is, man, that movie still holds up. The second one was so bad, dude. It wasn't great. It was not good. The first one was awesome. I watched it for the first time, like last year.

One of the best movies ever. It was, yeah, I enjoyed it immensely. All right, I've got to make a pick here. What do I want to do? Mark It's Semyon, not really excited about that. feels like a reach for any of these other pitchers, Freddie Peralta, Lance Lynn. I haven't done this yet this off-season,

but let's try it out. I'm going to select J.T. Real Muto and lock up what I still consider one of the top three catchers in fantasy baseball. He'll chip in 10 to 12 steals. I think still give 20 plus homers. Pretty good ballpark lineup to hit in. So through five picks, I have four hitters,

and one starting pitcher, J.T. Real Muto, Tim Anderson, Yerdon Alvarez, and Shohei Otani. Kind of an interesting build. Not really one that I go for, but we'll see how it turns out. So you're sticking with Rio Muto over Will Smith as a number two,

because I think Chris and I... Smith ahead of Rial Muto. I think I actually kept Rial Muto ahead in points leagues because his skill set is a little better suited for that. But yeah, it's at least a close call between those two,

especially if you think that D.H. Spot is going to give Will Smith more chances to hit. I don't know, maybe in Max Muncie, you'll have to be the permanent DH. I don't know. Perhaps, yeah. I think it's really close.

Real Muto versus Will Smith. I think it comes down to roster construction. How do you like to put your teams together if you want more pop, maybe more counting stats, but a little bit lower batting average. I think Will Smith is probably the answer for you.

JT Real Muto, again, you know, 20 homers, 10 to 12 steals. I think he'll have a better batting average than Will Smith. I still think the counting stats will be very good for him as well. So just comes down to what you prefer in that range. But I think they should both be fifth round picks is probably about right. For Real Mento's probably needs to, he needs to bounce back, I think, to justify this.

Because last season on a per game basis, he was just kind of okay. You know, like he, I don't know, he, he was definitely a lot better in 2020. And I'm not sure how much I buy him bouncing back, I guess, is my concern. And that's a big part of why I have Will Smith higher. Fair enough. All right. What else is going on in round five? I selected Rio Muto at Pick 49.

Then Trevor's Story. I feel like it's kind of weird that Trevor Story hasn't signed yet, but there are still a few big names out there. Story, Freeman, Carlos Correa. After Trevor Story goes, we see Wander Franco, Lance Lynn, Marcus Semyon, and speaking of Will Smith, Chris, you go with him. You select him 54th overall. Yeah, it wasn't my top player on the board.

not where I have him ranked, but I haven't drafted a catcher early except for Salvador Perez yet. So I want to see what it looks like when I do that. And with you taking Real Muto, I figured this was probably my last chance to get him. I want to mention Marcus Simeon going here in the middle of round five in a categories league, no less,

where there's not a ton of pitchers pushing hitters down. It's too late. Yeah. I think we may be getting to a point where he's been pushed as a bus so much that I might actually start drafting him because he goes... I absolutely wanted to take him if he had fallen one more spot. I'm pretty disappointed. He's my 31st overall ranked player in this format.

Yeah, so you passed on him for Tim Anderson, Frank, and then Trevor Story went ahead of him, Wander Franco went ahead of him. That's... Yeah, I'm going to start seeing him with rose-colored glasses here, if that continues. And it's weird because, like, okay, he's not going to hit 45 home runs again. he's not going to be as good as he was last season, but he's been that good two of the past three seasons.

And the one outlier season is the weird 2020 where he played 53 games. He's played 377 games over the past three seasons. And he's got an 854 OPS, a 162 game pace of 12 steals, 37 homers, and a 268 batting average. I get he's been a bust for me, not in my most recent column, but I do think, Yeah, like if he's going to fall past the first three rounds, I think he's a value. I think I would expect even less power than what he's projected for over the past three years, Chris. But if he hits 20 to 30 homers, 270 batting average, you know, 12 to 15 steals, it's still a pretty valuable player. And he hit 33 in 2019. I know the bat of ball data doesn't necessarily support what he's done.

but I don't think Globe Life Field, Globe Life Park. Global Life Field. Gold Life Field is like such an extreme pitchers park that, like, it's worse than Ring Central at the Oakland Coliseum of Alameda County, Coliseum, California. And Simian just hit 33 home runs at that stadium, whatever it's in 2019.

So, you know, I have my doubts about Marcus Simeon, and I think it's possible he is a true bust, kind of like he was in 2020. But, I mean, I can't say that with enough conviction to pass on him in round five when he performed like a second rounder last year, maybe even a first rounder. Probably a first rounder with the counting stats that he had. Yeah, the ADP for Marcus Simeon, according to Fantasy Pros, is 33.4. And again, in this draft, he lasted to pick 53-3. So nice discount there.

Let's catch everybody up after Chris selected Will Smith the catcher. Then Freddie Peralta, Adelberto Monise, 56th overall. Nolan Aronado, Chris Sale, Scott selected Corey Seeger, then Nick Castellanos. And to start round six, we see Javier Baez. And Scott, you are back on the clock. And I will chant punt, punt, punt, punt, stunt, stunt steel, Scotty. Well, so I had to take Corey Seeger with my last picking round. five there. I see him fall to like round seven in some of these 15 team drafts.

And I'm not sure how that happens. It never happens when I'm drafting. And I'm not saying because I take them. I try to wait until round seven to take Corey Seeger. But it just never seems to work out for me. So I go ahead and take him around five. I'm going to take Ketel Marte here. Because I'm worried about the- Get your own guy. That second base is going forward. Like I kind of wanted to take a pitcher there. I only have Robbie Ray so far. Like Kevin Gosman is there.

We are about to see a tear drop at starting pitcher, but I'm going, I'm going to go a little extra aggressive on hitter here and see how it plays out for me. Filled up, I haven't filled up my whole infield yet. I still have first base. I have one outfield spot field. I, of course, have catcher filled with Salvador Perez. But Devers at third, Seeger at shortstop, Catele-Marté at second base.

I'm looking good in batting average already. I would say. And I got a nice offensive foundation here. And don't worry, Scott. There are plenty of first baseman that you could draft later on. So five of Scott's first six picks there

are hitters. The only pitcher is Robbie Ray. We'll see how that pitching staff turns out. What else do we got going on? Jose Abraeu goes 63rd overall. Then The Man. Charlie Morton goes after that. John Carlos Stanton.

Chris, you are on deck. And this is a perfect time to remind everybody that March Madness is here. We want you to compete with us in a bracket challenge game. I'll be in there. Scout will be in there. Chris will be in there and we want you as well. Join us at CBSports.com slash FBT brackets and the winner gets a $100 gift card to Paramount Plus. That's not all you get because the winner will also get an opportunity to choose which listener league they want to be in this season. With Paramount Plus, you're able to watch the NCAA tournaments. Tons of soccer from

the Champions League to Concaf, golf majors in the spring, and NFL football in the fall. Also, we're excited for the debut of Halo, which is streaming March 24th exclusively on Paramount Plus. Head to Paramount Plus.com slash Halo to try it for free. But back to the brackets, who enters just one pool? You can also create a group to compete against friends and fill out your bracket for the chance to win a trip. To the 2023 Final Four, it's free to enter. You can play on the CBS Sports app or at CBS. sports.com slash FBTbrackets. Okay, after John Carlos Dayton, only one pick was made.

Thank you. Chris Bryant, 66th overall, and Chris, you are back on the clock. Yeah, I'm disappointed that Chris Bryant went. I would have been willing to take him. Honestly, like, with the rumors to the Rockies heating up, I would have been willing to take him here. But I wasn't planning on it. I was hoping I could do wait another round. So that's a little bit disappointing, but I ended up taking Kevin Gosman. My number two starting pitcher because I feel like Will Smith, Bobeschette, Byron, Bucks, and Aaron Judge is a

good enough start on offense that I can push for that second pitcher. All righty. After you selected Kevin Gosman, we see Jack Flaherty go off the board as well. I wanted to comment on Charlie Morton going there, 64th overall, ahead of

Kevin Gossman and Jack Flaherty, which is certainly well ahead of ADP. I wonder if he's somebody who we're going to see the ADP move up now as people see him pitch in spring games and are more confident he'll be full go after breaking his leg in the World Series last year. I do think if that's why people were causing him to slide,

it was overblown, but we may have been underestimating the effect that was having on people's approach to Morton. Yeah, it's definitely a fair point. And not really something we want to hear because, of course, all three of us love the VIII value of Charlie Morton this season. The ADP is 87, and again, he went 64th overall in this draft. So Charlie Morton, a potential riser here throughout spring training. Let's catch

everybody up. There was just one pick. Brian Reynolds, the latest after Jack Flaherty and Kevin Gosman. Two picks ahead of me. I have a couple of ideas in my mind, players that I want to draft. I'm always scared to put players in the queue because I feel like other people who are drafting with us are watching us live on YouTube. I mean, whatever, it's a mock draft, but I still don't want people to take my players. All right, one of them, of course, that I wanted

was Eloy Jimenez, so I'm very happy to get him here at the 6-7 turn. He is my second outfielder. I just love the idea of Eloy Jimenez and Yerdon Alvarez on the same fantasy team. That is just so fun. Okay, I want to take a pitcher do I want to take a closer or do I want to take a starting pitcher?

I am going to select a starting pitcher. Now I've got to adjust the rankings a little bit because I'm drafting out of order here and I feel like a fraud, but I'm going to select Max Fried ahead of Logan Webb. You know, some of the stuff that you've said this offseason Chris about the shoulder injuries with Webb last year. It's, you know, the fact that he was kind of a. one hit wonder, can he repeat? There's a lot of helium on him right now. I think I got to drop him down just a little bit.

And Max Fried, man, the past couple of years, whenever he's pitched, he's been really, really good. So it's close between those two, but I do think I'm going to move Max Fried ahead of Logan Webb. Max Fried was the top pitcher in my queue, or top player in my queue, so. Take that, Chris. Take that, Chris.

And we are in the beginning of round seven again. I selected Max Fried, and the very next pick is Jose Barrios to, our friend RJ White. And you know what? I say this every draft. RJ always takes Shane Bieber. No surprise. He's got Shane Bieber on his team. So he's got Bieber, Aaronola, and Jose Barrios,

his first three starting pitchers to go along with Trey Turner, Mani Machado, Trevor Story, and Randy a Rosarena. So it's pretty good. It's fun. Some powers, some speed, pitching. Nice little balanced start for RJ. And the next pick here is

Frankie Montas. Even if I didn't agree, he's my boss. So contractually obligated to... Great team. Great team. Even better guy. Love him. RJ. Wow.

What a guy. All right. After he selected Jose Brieus, I mentioned Frankie Montas, Joe Muskrove, Justin Verlander. Okay, so we have quite the pitcher run. All five picks have been...

This is not a good about that. Catele-Marty pitch. Glad I took Kevin Gosman with my last pick. Yes. Chris, you are on the clock. We will get to you in just a... second. All right, so you selected Brandon Low. Yeah, Scott, man. All the pitchers that you like are getting pushed up the board now.

Charlie Morton. I know. Justin Burlander in round seven. It had been a little light early on. I think it was only like 10 pitchers in the first three rounds. So we're making up for lost time a little bit. All right. Let's check in on your team here, Chris. You selected Brandon Lowe. You now have Will Smith. You have Brandon Lowe at second. You got Boba Chet, Byron Bucksson, Aaron Judge, and your two pitchers are Max Scherzer and Kevin Gossmann. What do you think so far? I think this does highlight the difference between a roto versus a head-to-head categories because in a roto league, I'm not sure I would love this start. I'd be really light on batting average

and not great at stolen bases. But in a head-to-head categories league, you know, I think the consistent power that, you know, Aaron Judge and Brandon Lowe should provide, and even Will Smith from the catcher position. I think you can live with the fact that this might be light on batting average. I don't think you're so bad though, Chris. I think Bo Bichette and... That's really nice.

I think... I don't care what anyone says. I think Bichette and Judge can hit 280 plus for you and, you know, if everything works out for Bucston again. Yeah, but I think like the most likely outcome is probably Will Smith and Brandon Lowe hit below 260, maybe below 250. I guess I don't know about Smith

I might be underselling him a bit but yeah it's it's not a strength for sure I love loading up on power hitters in this format like I don't need any base dealers necessarily but if I if in those 10 hitter spots

if I can get a guy projected for 30 plus homers and you know as many as I can't I feel good about my chances of winning that category and RBI every week and probably having a chance and runs as well.

You know, you don't have to worry about overkilling a category so much in this format because obviously that just means you're winning. That just means you've got to win in the bag in that category every week. Right. Yeah. And as we've talked about many times, you know, every time you hit a home run, you get a run scored, you get an RBI. So try and stack up those home run hitters.

And hopefully they help you in at least those three and maybe even batting average as well. let's catch everyone up after Brendan Lowe went Max Muncie 79 the ADP on Muncie is 112.6 so another player may be rising here with some optimism throughout spring training then Dylan Sees Logan Webb and Cody Bellinger Scott we going with some some pitching here I don't know that we are

I don't know that we are I'm thinking about it I think I'm gonna go Jorge Polanco here and move Catele Marte to my outfield and that'll give me some shortstop insurance too with Corey Seeger there

oh okay and this is where Fernando Tatez goes that's about where I said I was going to rank I'm like Christian Yelich is still on the board a couple other outfielders that I might have ahead of Tatez but I think that's

this is at least the point where you need to start thinking about it, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, I moved him down a little further than that, but it's, you know, when you talk about range, like given how much uncertainty there is right now about what treatment option he's going to go with and what that would mean, you know, I think anything from 85 to 120 probably makes sense, depending on your personal level of risk aversion. Just looking at our top 300 overall on the website. Again, you can always find our rankings on the site, if you want to check them out, we've got roto rankings, we've got head-side points rankings. Scott has Tatis at 108th. I have him at 113. Chris has him at 115. And this is still an evolving

situation and a lot of moving parts. So as we get more information, I'm sure we'll move him up and down the draft board. But he does go 85th overall here, the first pick of round 8. Scott, you mentioned that you selected Jorge Polanco. Alex Bregman also went just before Tatis. And then you selected you Darvish as your SP2. So you've got Darvish and Robbie Ray as your first two starters. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I felt like

I needed somebody with that ace strikeout upside, you know? And just hoping you Darvish bounced back from a very difficult second half. But we've seen him have stretches like that in the past. I'd considered Christian Yelich with that pick. And I had considered

going a little early for what I think is going a little early, I think, for Kyle Schwaber, who's a player I like the value of, but he tends to go like 20 picks later than this. But I already have two outfielders, and starting pitcher, you know, is dwindling. So I went ahead and took Darvish here

and just crossing my fingers that the second half last year was just a blip for him. All right. A Rolla's Chapman was the very next pick. He goes 87th overall as the third closer off the board ahead of Ryssel Iglesias and Emmanuel Class A. Aglacius, by the way, has not reported to camp yet. He's behind because of personal reasons. And we're seeing a lot of that right now.

So I don't think that it's cause for alarm yet, but something you keep in mind. I thought that it wasn't clear what Rizel Iglesias was late for. I know Anthony Rendon was dealing with a family issue, but I thought they said they didn't have any details on Rizzoa Galacius. I could be wrong.

We could both be wrong, Chris. It's entirely possible. I mean, it's more likely that I'm wrong. So this was five hours ago, and this is on his CBS player page, away for personal reasons. Okay. So that comes according to Sam Blum of the Athletic.

All right. After a roll of his Chapman, Carlos Correa, Bobby Witt, who is the, arguably the top prospect in baseball, but certainly the top fantasy prospect. There's a chance he could be up with the Royals on opening day.

And then Alec Manoa and Chris, Chris, you select Christian Yellich. Who's one of your guys this year? Yeah, one of my guys, I've talked about it a lot, but I generally think a lot of the batted ball stuff last season was pretty promising. He still hit the ball really well. Hit it on the ground too much. It was a little bit of a reversion to his pre-breakout form when he was with Miami, but the quality of contact was still really good.

the strikeout rate regressed from the really bad 2020 levels. So for me, I'm fairly confident he's going to be good when he's healthy. And so, you know, at this point, like, I do still think he has first round upside. And a little batting average upside if he helps, if he's right. And a new teammate, as I mentioned in Andrew McCutcheon as well. after a Christian yell at Shane McClanahan, also known as Shane O'Mack. Here comes the money. Here we go.

Money talk. Here comes the money. And then, Rice L. Iglesias, Mitch Hanager, and J.D. Martinez, and I am now on the clock. Ah, as I battle through every mock draft, I never wind up with a good second baseman. Or more often than not, I don't. And so I'm staring at my team. I don't have a first, second, or third basements at this point. I've got two starting pitchers.

I don't love the second base position right now. India is still there. India is there, indeed. I've poisoned Frank's mind. Yeah, that's true. You have, you have. I am going to select Ryan Presley. I get one of the top tier closers,

what I consider one of the top tier closers. And then to start round nine, do I want to go with jazz chisholm or jonathan india let's see shism i think both in my bust column how dare you i think we all have chisholm as a bust right not me not me fellows all right ahead then uh but do i want to do it or do i want to take somebody else do I have enough batting average to support a jazz chisholm pick? I think so. I've got Tim Anderson

Eloy, Yerdon Alvarez. I think JT should be fine. Yes, I will select jazz. Jazzy boy and see how it turns out. Do I still have it? No, I've got to update my soundboard here. I used to have... Can you get the weird free jazz that played in Homeland when Carrie was going through like her episodes. They're like, blip-blis-blis-blis.

Every time we talk about him. I don't have that. That's my official request. I do have a, I could find it, but last year I used to play this for the jazz man, jazz chisholm.

Jazz. All right, I know you guys are a little bit more worried about jazz chisholm, and I get the downside argument. I do think he has a ton of upside, too. I mean, could hit 20 homers with 30 steals.

I don't think that's out of the range of possibilities. what does the batting average look like? 240, maybe, 250 in a good season. So I worry about the batting average, but the tools are there for Jazz Chisholm. He's just got to put it together.

And also, he's super fun to watch. Like, if we're just talking about, like, you want to draft a team of fun players, man. Yeah. Jazz Chisdhism. For that aesthetics category. You're going to dominate that, Frank. Yeah, in the blue hair category, jazz Chisholm, he'll get you every time.

All right. So he goes 97th overall. Then Carlos Rodom. I was at least debating it. It was in the back of the mind. It's the right range. Yeah, I had the thought after I took you Darvish. Do I feel better about Carlos Rodan now than I do U.

Darvish? I mean, the thing about you Darvish, you know, especially if you zoom in over the last like three years, is that like, you know, Scott, the way you phrased it was like he had a blip in the or hopefully it was just a blip in the second half. But like his whole past three years has kind of just been a serious. of blips. Like, good and bad.

There hasn't really been much more than, like, a month of consistency or two months of consistency either way, good or bad. It's been like, too bad months. The last layer, it might have been three months. The final three months of 2019, the two months of 2020, the first three months of 2021. There was eight months in between them, you know. I mean, that kind of has been his whole career, too. I think it's.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's, and it kind of makes sense when. He's got like seven pitches and he throws on his off days with his left hand and all that stuff. It's kind of, you know, there's a lot going on there. A lot of moving parts. Yeah, for sure. Let's catch everybody up.

Lots of picks going down. Jonathan India goes 99th overall. Then Yasmani Grandal. Trevor Rogers. Chris selected Emmanuel Class A. Then Edwin Diaz. Chris Bassett, now with the New York Mets. Luis Castillo.

Who knows? Could also be on the move here. And then Clayton Kershaw and Sassau. Scotty, you are on the clock. I was... I'd been waiting to bring up Luis Castillo because I went out of order in my own rankings to take Darvish ahead of him.

And then we all seem fine with Carlos Rodon going ahead of him. The Reds are dismantling their offense, it appears. And Castillo's probably a negative for WIP now. I just... I don't know that this is the format for him. If he gets traded, it'll help. But yeah, I'm not, I might need to lower them in my rankings, actually.

Trade them to a warm climate, please, or somewhere that they have a dome, because typically struggles in the cold weather is Luis Castillo. All right, Clayton Kirchall goes, Scotty, for the brand, you do it again, Kyle Swarber. I know, I'm happy he was there full, whoa, how many picks was that since my last one? Like, almost 20. Yeah, he'd been the top player on my rank. for about three rounds. So good value.

Like the power hitters. I like him. Very interesting to see where he winds up too. Could be added to the Blue Jays lineup too. A lot of reports about that. Wow. Geez. I mean, at some point, you know,

is there too much power in one lineup? No. I feel like if Kyle Schwerberg goes there, it's like, geez, man, there's just so much power in that lineup. That would be a Yankees fan thing to say. Yeah. No, but I did want to ask,

Does the thought process behind why we're all more, to borrow one of Scott's words, sanguine about Carlos Rodon, does that also apply to Clayton Kirchall going at a 106 overall? I feel more confident in Rodon now just because of the contract. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't, but getting the extra year,

more money annually. I know that he's younger, obviously, but he's also been more hurt throughout his career, I guess arguably, than Clayton Kirshall. Oh, inarguably. Yeah. I would rather have Rodon.

I think it's close, but I would see. Right, but the logic behind it, the team was willing to give him that guaranteed money. You know, does that make you less concerned than you were beforehand? Yes. Yes, definitely. If he got a one-year proof-it kind of deal, that was going to cause me to... Well, it's hard to know with Kershaw, because it was a one-year, seven-year. million dollar deal, but would he have signed for three years anyway?

You know, it sounds like he's close to retirement either. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah, there are other factors there. And, you know, would he have given any other team but the Dodgers of the chance to sign him for a one-year deal, considering he's been there since the beginning? That's fair.

But I think there's, I mean, just given the way things went down for them at the end of last season, I think there's more reason to be worried about Kershaw. Like the prospect of Tommy John surgery was actually mentioned for Kershaw when Rodan, it was shoulder inflammation. You know, shoulder inflammation that probably wouldn't have concerned me if it hadn't cost him velocity. But, you know, the fact that it did. Well, for me, it's just his history, anything is extremely concerning, in my opinion,

just because he's had so many injuries. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you could say the same thing about, Rodon, right? I mean, he's dealt with. Oh, no, that's what I meant, Rodon. Oh, okay. Really interesting and topical pick here, guys. Yes, let's catch people up. Kershaw, last round, then Scott took Kyle Schwerber, then Joey Votto and Shane

Baz at the 9-10 turn, then Blake Snell, Josh Donaldson, 11th overall. And then Tommy Edmund goes off the board. And, you know, we were reacting to the news live when it happened on yesterday's podcast. And I brought up that Josh. Donaldson was going to push Justin Turner, who has an ADP around 150, Donaldson was going around picked 200. So I thought he would rise about like 40, 50 spots, but 90 spots on Josh Donaldson. I don't know. Seems pretty high. What do you think? It's, it's too early, but that's

most, it's not, it's not too early because he can't be worth that pick. It's too early because you don't need to take him there. But I do think the move to Yankee Stadium and the Yankees lineup helps. I think it does make him, you know, increases his chances of putting together better counting stats because that was one place that he fell short last season. And he, you know, still crushed the ball. He still seems like a good bet for 30 plus homers. It's, it's mostly a one health and two, you know, a value question here. You know, I don't mind him going up to like 150, 170, but this, this is too early, I think. Yeah. Ross Jonathan went ahead of Anthony Rendon.

I mean, Scott, we're not doing that, right? No, no, we're not. And I had actually had the thought, okay, just him being in the headlines right now, him getting that Yankees hype, you know? Is that going to cause people to take a second look at him? See, oh my gosh, look at this guy's exit velocity last year. It was fourth best in the majors. And is it going to artificially boost his value just by virtue of being in the headlines?

more. And at least based on the first draft we've done since this trade, since that trade, it would seem that there may be, there may be something to that. All right. After Josh Donaldson, Tommy Edmund, Fran Mill Reyes, Anthony Rendon, Chris selected Nelson Cruz, who is now with the Washington Nationals. There are two utility spots in this league. So perhaps slight boost in value there for Nellie Cruz, then Willie Adamas. And Jesse, Winker, who goes 117th overall. And let's talk about Winker, who was traded to the Seattle Mariners. Look, the guy is really talented, strong batting average, OPS.

He's had trouble staying on the field, and he cannot hit against left-handed pitching. Still overall, a good player. Chris, what do you think about the move for Jesse Winker to the Seattle Mariners? Net downgrade for both him and Eohenosares. It obviously matters a lot more for Jesse Winker. But yeah, I think the concerns are that one, Great American Ballpark is just a really good place to hit. You know, Jesse Winker's quality of contact is so good that it may, you would hope it doesn't matter all that much. But I think one of the, I think the main concern is that just he doesn't hit lefties all that well.

He's really bad against them. He, you know, has still walks a decent amount. I looked up the numbers over the past couple of seasons. Let me get them in front of me. but it was like 12% walk rate, you know, 25% strikeout rate. But the problem is he just doesn't hit the ball in the air or with particular authority against lefties. He hits a lot of pop-ups. He just generally doesn't hit the ball as well.

And so you're talking about like a 600 OPS against them for his career. That just, it's going to make the production not as good as the like triple slash line. The triple slash line the last two seasons has been really, really impressive, like 970. But one, the Reds have shielded him against lefties occasionally, not a ton, but 23.8% of his played appearances over the past two seasons have come against lefties. Joey Votto, left-handed player for the same team, was it 29%. So, you know, I think that tells you a little bit right there. And so that gap may be enough to, you know, give his numbers a little boost that isn't necessarily present in the actual. production will get from him. I think the counting stats

are probably going to lag. And yeah, I think he's less likely to be a power standout in Seattle. It's just not as good of a place to hit. So, all in all, I think it's I have a hard time believing his performance won't suffer to some degree when the venue changes that dramatic.

And for what it's worth, his OPS for his career about 100 points lower on the road than at home. Yeah. And the road, you know, Not all of the parts were as bad as he helps. Yeah. It helps that it's a better park or a better lineup. He does have better hitters around him and that lineup should turn over more than the Reds did last season.

So the counting stats should be better. But I just, I worry that he's going to have a really, really nice triple slash line. Like he's going to hit 280 with a 900 OPS. But it's going to be like 27 homers and 88 RBI and 88 runs. And it's like there's nothing wrong with that. I just, the fact that he doesn't hit lefties well, I think holds him back. Well, it might be suited better in this format than any other format. A daily lineup league where, you know, when he's either sitting against lefties or frankly,

even if he's in the lineup against the lefty, you could just bench him that day, assuming you have, you know, a worth worthy hitter on your bench. So I think if there's any format to do that, it would be this one. And this is, this is late enough. I mean, what do you go? 120th overall. 117th, that it's, you know, that's not far from his ADP. It's a little lower.

But it does make it so that the risk is muted a little bit. So I don't hate it. It's just, I do think the trade is a negative for him. All right. Let's catch people up after Jesse Winkered. Justin Turner, Will Smith went in round 10. And then at the 10-11 turn, I selected C.J. Crohn as my starting first baseman. And Pablo Lopez as my SP3, a lot like.

Jesse Winker. I think with Rockies hitters in this format, Daily Lineup Leagues, you can choose to bench them when they're on the road and obviously reap all of the benefits when they're home playing in Coors Field. The rest of round 11. Jordan Romano, then Wilson Contreras,

Jake Cronowth, Dalton Varsho, Chris selected Eduardo Rodriguez, then Michael Copeck, Kenley Jansen, Marcelo Zuna, 129th overall. I do wonder if he's someone that can start to climb as we see more of him throughout spring training. Alex Verdugo.

And then Scott, you are on the clock here in around 11. And let me remind everyone what you've got. And that is three starting pitchers. You've got Darvish, Robbie Ray, and Blake Snell, and a whole bunch of hitters. Yes, I do. I don't have a first baseman, though. I'm looking at Josh Bell here, the last of the profit pocket. And Reese Hoskins is there as well.

Plus the person picking after me has a first baseman. I am, I'm just going to take Bell because I don't have time to think through it any more than that. I was thinking about actually taking Giovanni Gallegos. I'm starting to feel a little bit better about its chances. Like, now that we're getting some actual words from people in organizations, including the Cardinals organization, like it sounds like they're actually using the closer word with Gallegos, and that makes me feel a little more comfortable about drafting them as a safe source, but I'm just seeing he's delayed for personal reasons,

and I know that was an issue for him when the season started abruptly in 2020, or yeah, in 2020 as well. So let's see, Brandon Youngblood after me. He went Framber Valdez and Nathan Avaldi, two starting pitchers back to back. So this is normally the point when I would absolutely take Ranger Suarez

and accept the ERA help, and I'm a little worried about my ERA, between U. Darvish and Blake Snell. I may do it anyway. Also thinking about Tyler Malley in the hopes he gets traded, because, you know, he wasn't great for Cincinnati last year. You know what, I'm going to do it.

I want to see where Ranger Suarez goes of his own independently of me, where he goes. So I'm going to take Tyler Malley. All right. Get them extra strikeouts there for a guy who was pretty light on aces early in the draft. And we are rooting for a trade for Tyler Malley because as, you know, the overall numbers, they wound up pretty good for Malley last year.

The splits were drastic. He was much, much better on the road. So if we can get Tyler Malley out of Great American Ballpark, I know over the weekend there were some rumors about the Mets being interested in him before they acquired Chris Bassett. So I'm sure some other team can get involved on Tyler Malley if they would like to. Before we get into the rest of the picks, what we're going to do here is sign off hour one. and then pick it up with part two of the mock draft. But yeah, we're going to sign off here,

and we'll be back right after this.